Britney Spears Sends Birthday Wishes To Her Sons Amid Their Estrangement
The pop star posted photos of Sean Preston and Jayden James in celebration of their special week.
Britney Spears is attempting to take the high road amid drama surrounding her estranged relationship with her teenage sons, Sean Preston and Jayden James. On Tuesday, the pop star posted photos of her boys on Instagram to celebrate their birthdays — Preston turns 17 on Sept. 14 and Jayden turned 16 on Sept. 12 — writing, “Love you both so much 🥰 !!! These photos are from last year !!!”
Despite their months-long separation — and Spears’ many social media posts about their attitudes toward her — the 40-year-old shared the personal pictures, one of herself and Preston posing together and another of the three of them wearing masks in front of holiday decorations.
Spears’ post comes after her kids revealed they haven’t seen her in over six months. Not attending her wedding to Sam Asghari in June, Preston and Jayden’s father, Kevin Federline, first shared the news that the boys no longer want to spend time with their mother due, in part, to her mental health and online behavior.
“This whole thing has been hard to watch, harder to live through, harder to watch my boys go through than anything else,” Federline told the Daily Mail and ITV. “It's been tough. It's the most challenging thing I've ever had to do in my life.”
Following his dad’s words, Jayden shared his side of the story with the publication, saying he has “no hate” toward his mom but that repairing their relationships “is just going to take a lot of time and effort.”
“I just want her to get better mentally,” he said. “When she gets better I really want to see her again.”
Spears reacted to the interviews over social media, admitting that she’s “angry” and just wants “to be heard” in a now deleted post.
"I'm afraid to inform you guys, I'm not willing to see you until I feel valued," she wrote to her sons, adding that she "was desperate to see you guys ... but honestly, I should have valued myself way more."
"All I know is my love for my children is more than anything and I'm sorry if I ever hurt you guys in any way," the pop star said.
Spears’ lawyer became involved in the back and forth with Federline after he shared personal videos of the singer with Preston and Jayden in August. In the alleged footage, Spears can be seen arguing with her boys, who were reportedly 11 and 12 at the time.
“This isn’t even the worst of it. The lies have to stop. I hope our kids grow up to be better than this. #NeverFearTruth,” Federline wrote alongside the videos.
“Putting aside his ITV interview, Mr. Federline’s ill-advised decision to post an old video of his 11 and 12 year old children was cruel, bottom of the barrel stuff. It was abhorrent,” Spears’ lawyer Mathew Rosengart wrote in a statement, calling the post a form of cyberbullying and violation of privacy.
Spears recently said that she wishes her boys well, but that she’ll never understand how they think her 13-year conservatorship under their grandfather and her father, Jamie Spears, was all right.
“If you can honestly sit back and say with your sensible, brilliant mind what memaw and paw paw did to me was fine and call them not bad people ... then yes I have failed as a mother and hopefully that’s a chat for you and your father to sit face to face and try to learn WHATS GOOD,” she wrote.
“Finally at 40 without the restraints of what my family did to me ... I say to my son Jayden that I send all the love in the world to you every day for the rest of my life,” she said directly to Jayden as Preston has not spoken up on the matter in public. “My love for my children has no boundaries.”
